To read the rest of this article,  follow this link over to the mommyhood memos where I had the honor of  writing as a guest blogger this week. If you’re visiting from the mommyhood memos… Welcome! Here are some posts from our archives that you might be interested in:

On Cross Cultural Pregnancy, Parenting & Kids:

• My Akha Pregnancy Guru
• The Birth Story
• It takes a village
• A Million Butts Can’t Be Wrong: Elimination Communication
• Diaperless Update: 3 Months
• EC Update: 1 Year
• Our Trilingual 2 Year Old
• A Different Kind of Milestone: Noodles and Chopsticks

Or if your interested in learning a bit more about the Akha people, our work, or our crazy life in the village, here are a few posts you may like:

• About the Akha
• Traditional Akha Vocals
• Vernon Vidcast #1: Our most recent ministry update
• 5 Minute Documentary about the Vernons
• The Akha and the West: Relevantly Traversing the Cultural Divide
• Pulling teeth on our own
• How to take a village shower
• The Rat and the Cat

Whether you’re an old friend or a new visitor,  thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment below and let us know you were here!

Our family has been staying in our city home in Chiangrai for all of October and we will probably remain here until the month is over as we adjust as a family to our new addition. We’re excited to get back into our normal ministry pace, but have really enjoyed this time in the city preparing for Izi, spending time as a family, and working on our city-side projects.

We have been tumbl’ing images of Izabel over on her own blog – Our Izi Ruth – rather than fill up this blog with tons of kid pictures (actually we all have Tumblr blogs if you would like to follow our lighter and more personal posts: Izi Abi Lori Paul) but wanted to share a few pictures here as well:

The first man was Keith Green who sang the following words at a club in LA shortly before his death in a plane crash (written from the perspective of God speaking to us):

The other was Rich Mullins who, like Green, had a psalmists connection with the Lord and who, also like Green, died tragically in an accident (this time in a car). Beautifully, Rich penned and sung these words before his death:

Each of these men had an eternal perspective that I, in my stumbling attempts, have not yet attained. I’ve often wondered if these two men had each grown so intimately connected with the Lord that He just had to sweep them home, that their spirits simply couldn’t be contained any longer by this world.

I want to clarify here that I do not believe that Keith Green and Rich Mullins had reached some new-age, zen-level oneness and were resorbed into a cosmic Nirvana.

I am talking about a real connection with the Living God. I’m talking about Enoch, about Moses, about Elijah and how we have the same access to God as these men did because of Christ. Neither Green nor Mullins were perfect, but intimacy with God is not based on our perfection, after all it was an adulterer and murderer who was called a man after God’s own heart.

I’m grateful that these men were willing to serve God and His church, but I am amazed that years after these two men left us we can see that we the church have lost nothing. In this day the worshipers, the men and women who are truly seeking after God’s own heart and are leading the church into an intimate connection with the Lord, cannot be counted on one hand (or blogged in one post). Today there is a mantle of worship, a vibrant connection, a movement of abandonment towards God that again challenges me daily in my view of life and God.

Today there is worship in every form:  song and dance; art and expression; text and voice; silence and speech; action and stillness. I cannot list the names of every voice of worship because they are in every nation and every language. I cannot even list all the individuals who are impacting me, and honestly I don’t desire to, because it is not their names that I desire to see praised.

I do desire to lift up the name of the Lord, to be exhorted by the chorus of saints around me, and to worship in spirit and in truth… and I hope you will join me.

Well, to get back to the story, Abi has been showing a lot of interest in chopsticks lately. At mealtime she always steals one of our chopsticks to play with and ends up trying, unsuccessfully, to stab at her food. So today, as I served up her noodles, I remembered a blog post I read recently about children’s chopsticks. So, I threw together a pair of “training chopsticks” and she went to town. I swear she ate more at that meal than she has EVER eaten (at least when feeding herself!)

As I was sitting there watching her eat with as much parental pride as is legally allowed, I realized that the heightened degree of sentimentality with which I was viewing this milestone was not really normal (at least not for the majority of Americans). Most of our American friends will not have pictures of their children using chopsticks for the first time at the age of three. Nor will they forever cherish the first set of “baby-chopsticks” given to their children by their Akha Grandpa.

So, I guess I just thought I’d share one of the little differences about raising a child overseas. What are the milestones and memories that you have cherished from your child’s life?

Pregnant in Paradise

This has been such a pleasant pregnancy that we haven’t done too many updates as Lori has progressed. We keep looking for something to write about, but with a pregnancy the only “newsworthy” items are usually negative news like morning sickness or complications. Thankfully, this pregnancy has gone very smoothly, with the exception of a brief food poisoning stint, Lori and the baby have been wonderfully healthy.

Abigail has been doing very well with whole the process and she is always talking about how she’s going to be a big sister and all of the things she is going to do with “her baby”. It’s really nice that she’s old enough to absorb some of the changes that will happen in her life once her baby sister arrives. She has a good friend who just had a baby sister as well and has been able to observe a big sister and how to treat newborn babies.

We’re excited about this new chapter for our family, and we are grateful for all of you around the world who play such important roles in our lives and ministry.

p.s. for those of you who are asking the inevitable next question, Lori and I are still discussing what we are going to name her. we do have a name that we are leaning towards, but I don’t think Lori wants me to share it with everyone yet.
I’m Zealous, Admittedly, But Enigmas Leavemystery.

p.p.s. yes, i did intend to remove the space between the last two words of the last sentence.

The silver lining in the last few weeks has been a really nice time as a family. A two-year old can sometimes be a handful, but it’s so fun to watch her personality, vocabulary and comprehension of the world around her as it expands daily.

Abi is very active, but very sweet. Right now, she really loves to be doing whatever her mom is doing. Last night, Abi was beginning to feel better and decided she wanted to help Lori make a dinner – a very American “Breakfast for Dinner” actually.

Here are some images from their time together:

Later that evening (when mom decided she needed the whole kitchen to herself if she was actually going to get dinner made) Abi and I went out to look at the sunset… and to take more pictures of Abi.

Those of you who are looking for even more Abigail than you can find here on the Vernon Journal, take a look at our scrapbook postings of pictures, unedited videos, and other tidbits at Abi’s Tumblr: Our Abi Hope.
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Proverbs 31:10 (NASB)

Description of a Worthy Woman
¹⁰An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.

Maybe it’s the weddings I’ve been going to. Maybe spring comes early in Thailand. But I have found today, that even after 9.5 years of marriage, I am head-over-heels *in love* with Lori.

She’s seen her life get more and more difficult as pregnancy turned into an infant and now a two-year-old, and yet she continues to shine in ministry, as a mother and as a wife.

Right now she’s in the bathtub with our energetic daughter, after working most of the afternoon on her computer with Abigail nestled in-between her body and her mouse-operating right hand. We’re working on getting Abi to go to sleep with me and she’s becoming more and more independent as she grows up, but there’s no substitute for mom when things are hectic – which is more often than not in our world.

Sometimes as a father, I feel pretty helpless – I just can’t comfort Abi like Lori can – and, therefore, more often than ever I am being called off in one direction to work and to serve while Lori continues our services of ministry locally, while continuing her role as a mom.

Through it all, she’s been incredible, and is a priceless addition to my life.

Last month, when the Ruggles’ were with us, they captured some of the many roles that Lori plays in our life – and I wanted to share them with you.  (make sure you hover over the pictures for the insider descriptions of each role)

…and all of this doesn’t even cover the professor / nurse / teacher roles that fall in her actual job description.

I love you, Lori. You are simply incredible.

It was a whirlwind of a trip filled with airplanes, car rides and jetlag. I spent as much time traveling to, from and around Southern California as I was actually at the wedding – but it was a wonderful time.

It was really special for me because I got to spend a lot of time with some of my closest friends. Including the groom, eight of the guys from our college days came. Unfortunately, none of the wives or kids were able to make it – but that actually made for a great time. And probably the last time that all of us guys would be together just as all of us guys.

After the wedding we headed out into San Diego to see the aircraft carrier, mess around with photography, pay for parking without actually doing anything where we parked, and close down a microbrewery that had completely run out of it’s house-brewed root beer.

It was a great time with great friends, and although I probably would never choose to make another quick round-trip like that again, I wouldn’t trade the memories of those few days for anything in the world.

Thanks guys, it was a blast.

Rusty and Lynette Polinder

Lynette is doing fine, but the baby girl is fighting for life. Rusty is currently in America & is flying out here as quickly as possible.

Please join us in lifting up the Polinder’s and this precious little life that she might gain the strength and health that she needs.

For a while now, we’ve been trying to capture on film her nightly ritual of counting to ten in her three natural languages: English, Akha and Thai. Unfortunately, our video camera has terrible audio – so we finally got her playing with the microphone @ Dad’s computer. So, for those of you interested in seeing a two-year old counting to ten in three languages, check out the video below!

(and those of you who would rather see some ministry posts & updates, why don’t you look here)

She’s a real sweetie at 2 years old. Sure, she’s learning how to throw a temper tantrum as she learns that she doesn’t always get her way, but she’s a sweet little girl who loves to play and loves her friends, especially Mali and Apaw. She can say her “ABC’s” and can count to ten in three languages – English, Akha and Thai! We’ll try to get some videos up for all of you family & friends who might be interested to let you see our growing little girl, but for now here’s a two minute clip of Abi’s birthday – and the beautiful Elmo birthday cake that Lori made for her.

Ingredients:
* ½ pound of ground meat (we use pork)
* 3 large-ish eggplants
* 1 small onion (I used yellow here, but we prefer purple)
* 2 Eggs
* Green Onion
* Cilantro
* 3 cloves of garlic
* Thai Chili pepper (or similar)
* Salt
* Oil

Instructions & Notes:
1. This dish is served with rice. So it’s best to start your rice first, because it will take 15-20 minutes. (In other words… DO NOT use Minute Rice! Learn how to cook rice here.)
2. Cut the eggplant into large pieces. Boil with the eggs for 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally. When finished, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
*Note: For some reason we like green eggplant best. Purple seems to be more watery and have less flavor, but I don’t even know if green eggplant is available in the U.S.
3. Chop the onion, green onion and cilantro. Set aside.
4. Prepare garlic & chili peppers. We use a mortar and pestle, but a garlic press or any number of kitchen gadgets would work fine, I’m sure!
*Note: Add chili peppers to suit your family’s taste. We use about 3 to achieve “medium” spicyness… but it’s all subjective, so start slow.
5. Get your wok (a.k.a. “pan”) nice and hot. Add oil, garlic, peppers, meat and onion. Stir-fry until meat is browned.
6. Usually, by this time, my boiled eggplant has cooled off enough to handle. So, remove the meat from the heat for a moment and chop the boiled eggplant.
7. Now, add your chopped eggplant to the meat mixture in the wok and stir-fry. It should get a little mushier and a little browner when it’s done. Add salt to taste (approximately ½ to 1 teaspoon should be about right.)
8. Reserve a small handful of the chopped green onions & cilantro. Add the rest of the onions & cilantro to the wok and stir-fry for another minute or so.
9.Transfer to your serving plate, and garnish with sliced boiled eggs and remaining green onions and cilantro. Serve with rice.

After a few days, they have gotten a little more used to each other – and we have learned that sometimes we have to take Abi (by herself) to the local park so Sem can play quietly by himself for a while.

Sem is really sweet, and a great eater. Abi is learning from him to enjoy her food a little more, while Sem is learning from her that interaction with other kids has its place.

We have some pictures of their first few days together, playing together with Sem’s Opa Gerhard at Jeremy’s baseball game. Abi and Sem enjoying a Strawberry Cheesecake (look at the ecstasy on his face!), and some cute ones of the two of them in their Sunday best.

As Abi is getting older, it seems I’m always on the lookout for new activities for her. She’s such an active little girl and really needs alot of stimulation to be happy. I recently started following this blog in which one mom shares about homeschooling her toddler (Tot School). I’m really excited to try out some of their intentional play ideas and will keep you posted as I am able to get going on these. But for the time being we’ll have to be content with the few games I’ve run across that require little or no planning… like this bean game. A few months ago, Abi was bored out of her mind and I happened to have a couple bags of black beans (that were several years old!) and thus was created the bean game. This is by far Abi’s favorite activity. She absolutely loves dumping the beans from one container to the other, or spooning them back and forth!

Another favorite game recently has been bath paints. I ran across this blog and I realized that we had all the ingredients in the house. So I whipped up a quick batch of bath paints and into the tub she went! She loved it! So this one has definitely gone onto the rainy day list.

Since there are so many inexpensive by-the-road style restaurants here in Thailand, we almost always eat lunch out. (Actually, let me clarify, when we’re in the city we almost always eat lunch out. However, when we’re in the village, we rarely eat out.) Anyway… where was I? Oh yes, inexpensive restaurants! A standard lunch in Thailand will cost you about 25 baht or 70 cents. The lunch pictured here, is actually a bit more expensive and runs 35 baht or 97cents. But it is so delicious that we don’t mind “splurging”!

We eat Khao Mok Gai about once a week. It is an halal dish in which the rice and the chicken are all cooked together with many spices like coriander, cinnamon, tumeric and cumin. These spices combined with the fat from the chicken make the rice so rich and tasty. The main dish of rice and chicken is usually accompanied by a cucumber, onion and chili pepper salad with a sweet vinegar sauce. Also, a broth soup is usually included. Mmmmm so good! I’m so lucky to live in Thailand and eat this great food!

The final diagnosis was “food poisoning,” though we’re not sure where she was infected. By the time we got her to the hospital, her potassium levels were depleted from all the vomiting and diarrhea and she was quite dehydrated as well. They treated her with IV electrolytes and antibiotics for three days.

Everything went pretty smoothly. Our normally very active little girl was generally pretty content sitting in her hospital bed watching Sesame Street on the laptop. Even being tethered to the IV was not nearly as difficult as we anticipated. We explained to her that her hand was drinking the water in the bag, so she would hold her IV hand up to her mouth and “sluuurp”. (So darn cute!) In fact, she became so accustomed to having the IV pole follow us around everywhere that she actually cried when they were wheeling it away!

All that being said, the time certainly had it’s difficult moments as well! The worst being the several times they had to draw blood and/or insert the IV. To begin with they had to swaddle her to keep her immobilized, which she absolutely hated. Then, her tiny veins were apparently impossible to find so the nurses had to poke her and “dig around” in multiple locations to find a suitable vein. Meanwhile, Abi screamed and cried at the top of her lungs! And to top it all off, the whole process always left looking nasty looking bruises on her arms and legs as reminders of the traumatic experience!

The other difficult thing was the matter of sleep. Abi is really not a very good sleeper to begin with, so the constant flow of nurses in and out made it pretty hard for her to sleep. The first night she woke at 2am. When 3pm arrived and she hadn’t slept for more than about 45 minutes, we decided to ask the doctor for some sleeping medicine. Boy, did it do the trick! She slept like a rock from about 4pm until midnight. She woke up, went potty, had some dinner, took a walk around the ward and then slept again from 2am to 8 am. (Without a doubt, this was the BEST nights sleep I’ve had in 2 years!)

All in all, we’re thankful for God’s healing hand and for the availability of good health care in Chiang Rai. And, of course, we appreciate the prayers of so many during this tough time!

Abi has been sick for the last three days with vomiting and diarrhea and a slight fever. This morning she got even worse and was admitted to the hospital here in Chiang Rai. Her blood work has shown no infections, but a severely low potassium level.

Please join us in prayer that she will return to full health completely and quickly.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper, for sure! Actually, here in Thailand it’s really hard to find Christmas themed paper and I’m a bit of a Christmas Nazi, so when ever I see a bin of wrapping paper for sale you’ll find me pawing through it trying to find anything remotely Christmas-y.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
I’m from Oregon… so in my opinion real trees are the best! (Again that’s part of my Christmas Nazi tendencies!) You just can’t beat the smell of a Christmas tree in the living room! Every single Christmas until we came to Thailand I had a real tree. Of course, here in Thailand we have an artificial, but I don’t really mind it too much. I’m just happy to have a tree at all!

3. When do you put up the tree?
As soon as humanly possible following Thanksgiving day.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Sometime in January. Whenever I get around to it.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Yes, but not strait; mixed half and half with milk is best!

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
I can’t say for sure… but *one* of my favorites was a Playdoh Diner set. It had all sorts of gadgets to make hamburgers and icecream cones and the like.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Hmmm…no one comes to mind. I guess it would be ME! Paul is always asking for a Christmas wish list and I can never think of anything I want!

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Esther.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, somewhere in storage in the U.S. Unfortunately it’s not here in Thailand. One of these days we’ll bring it out.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Neither. I don’t send out snail mail cards because I’m too lazy and I don’t send out email cards because it’s too impersonal. Go figure!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Can’t think of one… generally, if it’s wrapped, I like it.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
No question about it… White Christmas with Bing Crosby! I’ve already watched it at least seven times this season already.

13. When do you start shopping?
Whenever I think about it. Usually sometime in late November.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I’m sure I have…although I can’t think of a particular instance at the moment. Apparently I’m a bit brain dead today; I can’t seem to think of good answers for quite a few of these questions. (This is why it’s been so long since I’ve written a blog here… I’m really this brain dead all the time! It’s called being a mother!)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Appetizers. I can do with out the the formal dinner and the Christmas ham. For me, Christmas is all about the finger foods… black olives, pickles, crackers and cheese, summer sausage, etc. And don’t forget the sweets… cookies, fudge, candy… you eat those with your hands so they count as finger foods too!

16. Lights on the tree?
Again, this is an area where the Christmas Nazi in me comes out. I am very picky about my tree lights. They have to be interwoven into the branches so that you can’t see the wires, not just haphazardly strung. Also, there should be A LOT… this year I used 9 strands of lights on our tree.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
“Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel” Or “The Hallelujah Chorus” (which could also be considered an Easter song, but my home church always sang it on Christmas eve.)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Either is fine.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s?
Let’s see…”You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Someone and Someone and Donner and Dixen. But do you recall…” Guess not!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
I prefer star. In theory I’m ok with either, but more often than not I think the angels are gaudy and the stars look much nicer.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Growing up, our family opened all the presents on Christmas eve (except for the stockings and a present or two from “Santa” which we opened Christmas morning.) I never thought I’d change, but somehow Christmas morning has become our new tradition!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Trying to make an American Christmas in Thailand. It’s hard to make everything “just right” here. We can’t even buy proper candy canes! Also, I tried to make some candies that were dipped in chocolate, but the Thai chocolate won’t melt properly and is all lumpy!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
No favorites really. My current tree is Silver, White & Blue themed, but those colors were only chosen because I didn’t like the yellow, green & red ornaments.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?

If I’m choosing between a Turkey or a Ham dinner, I prefer Turkey. Although,like I said earlier, I don’t feel too deprived without Christmas dinner (afterall Thanksgiving was just a month ago!)

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Maybe a new watch? I dunno! Sorry Honey…wish I were more help!